In this era, your digital footprint defines who you are in the eyes of your customers. And it is nothing but your brand. A brand represents a set of values. For example, what do you think when you see the iPhone? Apparently, you will perceive it as a high-quality product with superior technology.
That is how Apple keeps its image. And it tries to portray the same whenever possible. The recent Macbook ad with the musical genius A.R.Rahman is such an attempt.
Your business might not have a good budget for marketing and advertising. Or you cannot afford to pay for enriching your personal brand.
Personal branding is the norm these days. Again, it is nothing but how you want to be perceived by others. Oleg Vishnepolsky, the CTO of Dailymail Online and Metro.co.uk, uses LinkedIn effectively to express his surprising thoughts on HR and leadership. And now, he is perceived as a thought leader in those fields.
So, whether you are trying to build your next dream venture or trying to develop a personal brand as a thought leader, it does not necessarily have to cost you a hand and a leg. Using social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and even Quora, you can build your brand.
And here is how you can do it.
Twitter is more popular with political leaders, CEO's, journalists, and tech evangelists. On the other hand, Instagram is not. Instagram, however, attracts young people, photographers, and celebrities. And there are some strong and subtle differences why the demographics of these two platforms are contrary to each other.
Keeping that apart, based on how your customers or audience are going to look like, you have to choose a platform that suits your needs.
While being present on multiple platforms is not going to hurt you. But it is better to concentrate on the right platform to build and grow your customer base. And this strategy gives you the best value for the efforts made.
If you are posting about your product/services day in and out without giving real value, you will not gain any traction. And no matter the amount of time, effort, or money you put in, if you are not respecting viewers' time, you will not see any progress.
Giving value does not have to be a daunting task. Create stories around your brand. Tell your audience how you or your brand helped someone. But say your stories with authenticity. People love to hear stories. However, never create inflated stories. They will blow back on your face. Meaning that they will fail.
And the stories you create can be visual or written. The medium you use does not matter as long as you can convey your message effectively.
People regularly scroll through their social media feeds. You only appear in those feeds if you are consistently posting something. And you will get more engagement by being consistent. Having said that, you should not be posting too much. It will turn off or irk your audience. Posting once or twice a day is more than enough on any platform.
Also, you have to be consistent regarding what you post. For example, if you use a funny tone regularly in your blog posts and suddenly change to a sarcastic tone, your audience will find it hard to understand what you are trying to say.
Try to have a good conversation with your audience. Give a reply when someone comments on your post. Tell them why you are the better one in the market. And encourage them to share your posts if they have found value.
If possible, conduct polls. And ask your audience why they like your product and how they are planning to use your product to solve their problems. It shows that you care about your customers.
Once you better understand what your audience/customers want, you can craft your products into masterpieces.
Make sure you have a good website. The goal of building a brand through social media platforms is to bring your fanbase/audience to your site. And to eventually turn them into customers.
Moreover, if someone types your business name into Google, your site should be a top result. For this, you need to do Search Engine Optimization (SEO). By following some good common practices, you can make your site great on the SEO front without spending much.
One popular way is to maintain a blog alongside your website. This is also called content marketing. When people find and read one of your blog posts, you can easily nurture them to buy your products/services.
Also, you can run a mailing list. So, when someone subscribes to your list, you can keep them updated with latest blog posts, product offerings, and occasional discounts.
Every year a lot of money is lost due to credit card fraud. And the last thing your customers want is entering their credit card information, email, or any personal info on an insecure website.
Browsers like Chrome and Firefox have a mechanism to let visitors know whether they are on a secure site or not.
Worry not, you just have to buy an SSL certificate. Configure the SSL certificate on your site. And make sure that all URLs and pages on your website use HTTPS protocol. Plus, encrypt your database of customer information.
Moreover, Google ranks a secure website higher than a website not secured with an SSL Certificate.
Branding your business is an essential aspect. It not only builds trust but assures that your services/products are dependable. At the same time, creating a business brand does not need to be costly if you effectively use the tools and platforms available to your advantage. So, start planning and work on your brand. You will see the results soon.
